Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

From the way the Taoiseach approaches the NESC, it seems he has not made up his mind as to whether he wants this body at all or, if he wants it, what it should be doing. There are a lot of infrastructural bottlenecks, as the Taoiseach has been telling us. In particular, the Minister for Education and Skills has significantly slowed the refurbishment of older schools and almost completely abandoned their refurbishment in favour exclusively of brand-new schools. The NESC has done valuable work in the past on identifying priorities. It is fair to say that the way the Government is approaching housing is a mystery to everyone. For instance, a small problem which could be addressed and an area in which the NESC could show us the way involves all of the vacant sites in the possession of Dublin City Council. These include O'Devaney Gardens, the bottom of Dominick Street and about 40 others I could list. That is not to mention the pervasive dereliction in the north inner city, which looks like an individual with two front teeth and gaps everywhere else. The Taoiseach was in the north inner city recently and he could not have failed to spot this. Given the brain power in the NESC, it might be in a position to advise the Taoiseach on some way out of the housing situation, wasted empty sites and the failure of local authorities to do anything.

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